Hope took on a body of its own and the intimate gathering of 12,809 in the Sun Bowl seemed to expand, to grow, to roar, to become a big football crowd.

UTEP trailed just 20-17 and there was hope, so much hope, that the anvil on the Miners' back that was 17 straight losses was about to be jettisoned.

Finally, late in a game, there was hope.

The hope hung there like a London fog over the old bowl as time ticked into history.

Two minutes, 45 seconds.

UTEP got the football back with all that time, all that hope, got it with a chance to tie or, perish the thought, win this football game. The stars seemed aligned. North Texas, after all, was the last team UTEP beat.

That, though, was at the end of 2016.

And then there was another time glaring down from that scoreboard.

One minute, 34 seconds.

And hope had hurried somewhere down Interstate 10. Again.

Buy Photo

UTEP loses a close battle with the University of North Texas Saturday 27-24 at the Sun Bowl.(Photo11: Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

It seemed almost fitting. The Miners faced fourth and 17 on their own 24. Ryan Metz drilled a pass deep across the middle, a first down for sure ... and maybe more.

David Lucero had to reach down around his knees but it was a catch he should have made, a catch he probably would make most times. But he bobbled it and it bounced away, floundering there on the artificial turf like so much lost hope.

The dark cloud that has gathered over UTEP football hovered over the Sun Bowl, temporarily replacing that fog of hope.

Eighteen.

That was the number dancing in disappointed Miner heads as they walked off the field. Eighteen. Eighteen losses in a row.

Certainly it was not Lucero's drop that cost the Miners this football game. It was a football game and, as football games go, it was a pretty good one. There is never just one play that spells victory or defeat. There were little plays here and there throughout this game, any one of which could have tilted heartbreak to joy, which could have made hope hug them.

The first half of this dance was about as even as even could be. The score was tied 10-10, UTEP had 11 first downs, North Texas had 10. Each team ran 36 plays and UTEP got 218 yards out of theirs and North Texas got 217 yards out of theirs.

But North Texas appeared to put this game away in the fourth quarter. The Mean Green led 20-10 and seemed to be in control.

Buy Photo

UTEP loses a close battle with the University of North Texas Saturday 27-24 at the Sun Bowl.(Photo11: Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

Metz, though, had other ideas. The UTEP quarterback, who threw for a career high 310 yards, found Keynan Foster deep down the right side and the North Texas defender fell down and ...

And hope was alive, hope was everywhere.

The Miners cut that lead to 20-17 and there was all that time left — five minutes, five seconds.

That dark cloud of 18 straight losses seems far heavier than hope. But the Miners seem to be drawing closer and closer, coming a little closer to making hope their haven.

The Miners seem to be getting better, seem to be getting closer.

Like Hemingway's "Old Man and the Sea" said, "Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready."

The Miners seem to be getting ready. Luck and hope and happiness have to float their way at some point.

The men from 1988 will tell you this thing can turn. They were honored at halftime Saturday night for their 10-win season. And they had gone through some bad days, some times when neither luck nor hope seemed their friend.

UTEP will have a much needed open date next Saturday.

And then they will have six more times to do this, six more football games to play, six more chances to huff and puff and blow that dark cloud away and embrace all that hope. It is hard. Football is hard. Those who go 0-12 work just as hard as those who go 12-0.

But, at some point, the right players have to come, the coaches have to make them better and then there will be happiness when the clock hits 0:00.

Buy Photo

UTEP loses a close battle with the University of North Texas Saturday 27-24 at the Sun Bowl.(Photo11: Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

For now, though, disappointment flows through a football team. And that is never fun.

This group of Miners must just keep working, keep clinging to hope, keep remembering the feeling they had when the clock told them there was all that hope:

Five minutes and five seconds.

Bill Knight may be reached at 546-6171; bknight@elpasotimes.com; @BillKnightept on Twitter.